Hiya All,

after peeking briefly through all the Posts here, I see many requests for Guides on this or that....

I would like to summarize your requests here and also the answers - if such a Guide is already out there; if not who can make it or is willing to or is requesting assistance with making one...

Please tell me/us all!

Could you add INF Coder (one who makes addons by writing INFs and using cabs rather than switchless installers) and something like All-Round Coder (one who can do both)? I would vote INF Coder for myself, by the way.

Hiya all,

Poll has been updated!

THX to Martin L!!!

Can someone please explain the difference between switchless and inf addons to me, and the recommended/best process? I have created a few 7-Zip silent addons with batch files, does anyone suggest a better method? If you want to customize the install and delete extra files and add registry entries then you have to use a batch script, correct?

With inf addons, the inf tells windows what to do to install whatever software you're integrating - with switchless installers you have to put it in a batch file (or something similar). I never could figure out how to concequently make switchless installers, but I'm quite familiar with the inf file structure now, so I just use that. Also 'true' addon packs, that is inf + cab ones, are thought to be cleaner. I'm not sure why, except that I think switchless installers sometimes create temporary files in obscure folders that they don't delete afterwards. On the other hand, switchless installers tend to be smaller than inf addons because cab compression isn't all that great.

By the way, I think inf coders are generally at guru level in that they could integrate their packs without nLite's or Siginet's Integrator's help without too much trouble; me, though, I'm too lazy

Hiya All,

Making silent installs depends on the EXE file, if it is possible or not.... Or with MSI on the Switches...

There is another possibility for silent installs without compressing them - YAWI - you just give there the EXE file, put switch entries (as many as you want) and you dont need to pack it, nor unpack in temporary Dir at install or whatever......

In fact

1. you can just make a CAB of the YAWI.EXE and YAWI.INI (after configuring the INI file accordingly)

2. integrate just that CAB

3. (before making ISO) copying all needed EXEs to the svcpack folder

4. and there you go! You can either install during T-13 with YAWI integrated into Win Install, or run the YAWI under freshly installed Windows afterwards from CD.....

Guides are nice - but what I think would be as effective (or even more so) is an index to existing projects and information.

One thread with a short description of what is being done - and a link to that thread - organized by which OS it applies to (i.e W2K, W2K3, XP, ALL, etc. I'm fairly new to using nlite and one of the biggest challenges is finding out the following:

1. What exactly is nlite capable of (and what features in topics have already been integrated into nlite - thus making that thread rather obsolete).
2. What projects are being worked on currently. Nlite wont cover everything and others are working on projects which can add a feature, streamline a process, etc. Finding these threads can be like bulldozing the way for the Panama Canal at times as one thread references another thread which references a third thread and so on.

A consolidated index of the wealth of information on this board would IMO be of more use to the general user than a guide. Guides usually end up being targeted in a specific direction for a specific OS and task. Don't get me wrong - guides have their place but an information index would be more dynamic and serve the dynamic nature of OS customization - and it also would be easier to maintain when the landscape changes and tasks become obsolete as opposed to making changes in a number of different guides where that same information is referenced.

Okay, I've had some experience with inf addons but they never do everything I want so I still create a switchless installer and a batch file to automatically apply my settings and delete extra files. Both work and have advantages/disadvantages depending on what you need to do. Thanks for explaining a little better though.

I recently discovered the possibility of adding the programs I use to an nlite install. This is so out of this world it is amazing. I want to be able to make my own installers for programs such as Winamp, WinRar, 7Zip, Office 2000, OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird to name but a few, the only problem is I have no idea how to do this It is just utterly bewildering so a guide that tells you what to do would be brilliant.

A guide for integrating each of these programs would be different because they use different switches and techniques. Some may rely on switches, which you could easily create a 7-Zip switchless installer for. You have to search the software's website though in order to get instructions on how to silently install the program.

Hiya All,

I am working on a general Guide for more types of installs, will post it when it is quite finished. I will then appreciate your comments on it and also your sending me examples of App installs for each of the category or type of silent install. I will also try to give there links for respective guides that go deeper into detail on to making this or that... Also on this your comments will be appreciated.